09/05/2019 Washington, D.C. (International Christian Concern) – The 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly will open on September 17^th and debate will commence the following week. These debates will cover a range of issues from universal healthcare to climate change. Naturally, the United States delegation to the UN will lead in many topics and push US policy priorities as will all other participants in the assembly.

The Trump Administration has prioritized International Religious Freedom and expansion of these universal rights in countries and regions where religious minorities, like Christians, have experienced systematic and ongoing persecution and oppression. To ensure that the global momentum around alleviating these issues continues to move in a constructive direction, it is in the policy interest of the United Nations to raise religious freedom issues at the 74^th session of UN General Assembly. This is a unique opportunity for the United States to take the lead in this policy space and press for global and regional change in local, regional and national levels of governance in countries that continue to persecute Christians and religious minorities.

In order for US leadership to be effective in this space, the debate for more religious freedom in a global context should be based on transnational milestone agreements like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) to which most countries that allow persecution in various levels of society, are signatories. The UDHR provides the policy grounding that undergirds the rights of all people around the world and gives the United States delegation to the UN the proper policy power to pressure domestic change in countries around the world.

While the UDHR gives the basis for the challenge, the US also leads in this space by example as a multi-faith and multi-ethnic society where religious freedom is guaranteed to all faiths. While the US continues to work through domestic challenges in its own religious freedom debate, it continues to set the example for the rest of the world in terms of cultivating a society where religious groups are living in relative harmony. The US should use this model as a basis for the debate, where mutual respect of one another and the personhood of the individual is the primary perspective in carrying on religious life. Countries where persecution is not only taking place at cultural and societal levels of life, but is also reinforced by domestic policy and the legal apparatus, participate in the UN. This provides a unique opportunity for the US to lead by example in terms of religious harmony and mutual respect.

The UN General Assembly is a powerful venue to raise policy priorities and for the United States to see one of its main foreign policy issues, religious freedom, expanded globally. This issue needs to be presented in a form that highlights the human rights context (UDHR) and US example of permitting a multi-faith and multi-ethnic society. The delegation should engage all countries that are not only designated as Countries of Particular Concern, but also those recommended to the CPC list by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. UNGA is a unique opportunity to ensure that International Religious Freedom is expanded in a global context.

Matias Perttula currently serves as the Advocacy Director for International Christian Concern where he leads the government relations efforts to mobilize the US government to address issues of persecution in countries where religious minorities are oppressed and the freedom of religion is in decline.